Tad Daley, a writing fellow with International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, rides on weekends with Los Angeles Wheelmen, Santa Monica Critical Mass and the South Bay Cruisers. At last weekend's Los Angeles Marathon, he pedaled the bicycle course with a friend before taking a break at mile 13 to watch the race. That's where Joseph Kahugu, a world-class runner from Kenya wearing the number 3 on his bib, hobbled over to Daley and, struggling to catch his breath, got out the words "I need help." Daley describes what ensued in "My world-class marathon day," LA Observed's first Visiting Blogger post.

Going forward, we'll run occasional submissions that tell us something about Los Angeles or that make for an enlightening or entertaining read. If you've got a piece that wants an audience, drop me a line.

Also at LAO: Deanne Stillman writes at Native Intelligence that the intervention by Margaret Seltzer's sister hints at an epic novel that would out-shine "Love and Consequences." Perhaps it should be called, "How I Saved My Family by Outing My Sister as a Literary Fraud."

T-shirt has your name on it: Join in and submit your pages tonight for "Right of Way," the next great Los Angeles noir story — being created by participants in the LA Observed Script Project. "The next pages of our script will be critical, as they begin to focus our story and launch our protagonist on a clear path," writes Eric Estrin. "It could be Mayor Napolitano, certainly, but only if his quest to build the subway emerges as the main thrust of our plot....Or, our focus could now shift to the murder." It's up to you. The T-shirt.